The Tribes of Britain

The Carvetii

The Carvetii tribe occupied/inhabited all of Cumbria and parts
of north Lancashire, south-west Durham and south-east Dumfries &
Galloway (Scotland). At first the Carvetii were grouped together with the Brigantes but they were later granted their own tribal council.

Tribe Not Mentioned by Ptolemy

Interestingly, the Carvetii are not mentioned in the Geography of Claudius Ptolemaeus. This is very strange because the surrounding tribes, the Novantae, Selgovae and Votadini in Scotland, and the Brigantes of northern England, all have entries in the work. The Carvetian towns have not been attributed to the Brigantes or any of the other tribes by mistake; it would seem that there is a void in Ptolemy's data and for some reason the Carvetii were missed out.

Although the Carvetii tribe is not recorded by Ptolemy, passages in his geographia give the ancient names of a small number of other geographical features on the periphery of the tribal territories:

Ituna Aestuarium (Solway Firth) - This body of water separated the Carvetii from their neighbouring tribe, the Novantae in Dumfries & Galloway.

Derventio Fluvius (River Derwent) - The ancient name
of this river also survives in the name of Derwent Water in the Lake
District. The fort and settlement of Derventio (Papcastle, Cumbria) lay upon its banks.

Moricambe Aestuarium (Morecambe Bay) - lay to the south of the Carvetian homelands, close to the borders with the Brigantes.

Unlike the situation in southern England, where Romano-British
settlements sometimes sprang into being alongside Roman roads and at
certain road junctions, without - it seems - the protection of a nearby
auxiliary fort, this is certainly not the case in the uplands of the
north of Britain, where substantial Romano-British settlements are always associated with a Roman garrison. This is never more evident than in the territories of the Carvetii, where there are almost forty auxiliary forts, around half of which have vicus settlements nearby.

The Evidence For The Tribe

The tribe's omission from the work of Ptolemy, the major historical
source of the names of indigenous tribes, has meant that the Carvetii
were not certainly identified until an inscribed Roman tombstone was
found in 1600 at Old Penrith. The stone, now lost, recorded that the deceased, one Flavius Martius, was ... SEN[ator] IN C[ivitas] CARVETIOR[um] ..., 'a senator on the tribal council of the Carvetii'. This did not, however, prove the whereabouts of the tribe, merely the fact thet such a tribe had existed.

It was not until 1964 when a Roman milestone was found near Temple Sowerby in Cumbria that the whereabouts of the tribe was proven. This memorial bears the closing phrase ... R[es] P[ublicae] C[ivitas] CAR[vetiorum], '... the Public Works of the Carvetian State'. This confirmed that the tribe's territories lay in the extreme north-west of England.

Romano-British Settlements and Military Installations

Guide to the Following Entries

All of the entries on this page bear a colour coded letter which
tells where the fort is situated, also its approximate construction
date:

H Hadrian's Wall Fort - built during the 120AD's on the instructions of the emperor Hadrian.

W Western Sea Defences - a south-western extension of the defenses of Hadrian's wall, perhaps 130AD's.

# Border Fort; letter denotes direction
N, S, NE, etc. - dating to the periods above, or to the 150AD's or
180's, during which times there were frequent uprisings in the north of
Britain, instigated in the main by the Brigantes tribe.

C Carvetian Heartland - uncertain dating as above.

The Civitas Capital

LVGVVALIVM (Carlisle, Cumbria) [S] - Civitas capital of the Carvetii,
the only walled-town in the entire north-west of Roman Britain. It is
reasonable to assume that the town must represent the tribal centre for
this reason.

Minor Carvetian Settlements

If a Roman auxiliary fort was garrisoned for any amount of time, the
regular salaries of the troops housed within the defences may attract a
small collection of civilian tradesmen, and their associated workshops
and dwellings, which would be arrayed to either side of the road leading
from the main gate of the fort. The name given to one of these
settlement was a vicus. All of the following auxiliary forts possess settlements in the form of vici:

ABALLAVA (Burgh by Sands, Cumbria) [H] - Three forts and a number of marching camps surround this small settlement. Four altars to Mars / Belatucader have been unearthed.

AESICA (Great Chesters, Northumberland) [H] - LEG XX V V The bath-house in the vicus outside this fort was supplied with fresh water via a two mile long aqueduct. Also of interest is the tombstone of a cornicularius, Aelius Mercurialis, dedicated by his sister Vacia (RIB 1742).

BANNA? (Castlesteads, Cumbria) [H] - LEG VI VIC a small vicus
and a Romano-British temple lie on the southern hill slopes below this
fort. Of great interest is the tombstone of Gemellus, who was custos armorum or 'custodian of the armoury'.

BRAVONIACVM (Kirkby Thore, Cumbria) [C] - Two marching camps and two milestones have been identified close to this settlement and auxiliary cavalry fort.

BROCAVVM (Brougham, Cumbria) [C]
- A small marching camp lies close to this infantry fort and
settlement, near the confluence of the rivers Eamont and Lowther. An
altarstone here was dedicated by a military tribune from the Eighth Augustan Legion (RIB 782) - very interesting!

CAMBOGLANNA? (Birdoswald, Cumbria) [H] - Excavations here have unearthed twenty-two Altars to Jupiter Optimus Maximus, mostly dedicated by Coh I Aelia Dacorum. A large vicus settlement with extensive burial grounds straddled the 'military way' to either side of this Wall fort.

CASTRA EXPLORATORVM (Netherby, Cumbria) [N] - LEG II AVG later LEG VI VIC The only evidence for a settlement here is the gravestone of a woman, one Titullinia Pussitta from Raetia (RIB
984). There are many altars of classical deities, all dedicated by the
Roman military; to Apollo, Fortune, Silvanus, Mars and Jupiter.

GABROSENTVM (Moresby, Cumbria) [W] - LEG XX V V This infantry fort was later converted for use by a part-mounted unit.

GALAVA (Ambleside, Cumbria) [C] - A very interesting 'twin' tombstone was unearthed at this fort (RIB 755a), of an actarius and an ordinarius, probably blood-related, one of which was killed in battle.

MAGLONA (Old Carlisle, Cumbria) [C] - The vicus here is quite extensive, and excavations have uncovered the tombstone of a sixty-year-old woman named Tancorix (RIB 908), whose name suggests that she was possibly of the native nobility.

MAGNIS [CARVETIORVM] (Carvoran, Northumberland) [S] - LEG XX V V
This fort was built for a unit of Hamian Archers, the only such unit in
Britain, later moved to Housesteads on Hadrian's Wall. Also of interest
is a bronze corn-measure called a modius, which was found at the site.

MAIA (Bowness on Solway, Cumbria) [H] - LEG VI V P F
The second largest fort on Hadrian's Wall, also the western terminus of
the Wall itself, although the 'Western Sea Defences' continued from
here along the coast to Ravenglass. This fort may have been named after
one of the Pleiades.

VXELODVNVM (Stanwix, Cumbria) [H] - LEG XX V later LEG VI VIC PF The largest fort on Hadrian's Wall built to house the Ala Petriana,
a unit of one-thousand horse which was the only such unit in Roman
Britain. The commander of the Wall Garrison was stationed at this fort.

VOREDA (Old Penrith, Cumbria) [C] - VEX LEG XX V V
This fort was built to house a mixed unit of five-hundred foot and
horse. Of great interest is the tombstone of a senator of the civitas Carvetiorum (RIB 933).

The Remaining Roman Forts

None of the remaining forts in Carvetian territory have been found to
be associated with civilian settlements, being situated mainly in
unproductive hill-country, although the Romano-British name of the
Ravenglass fort suggests that there may have been a trading settlement
nearby. Many of these forts are accompanied by one or more marching
camps.

Carvetian Nobles

Venutius

Was the
consort of Queen Cartimandua of the Brigantes, possibly since before she
became a client of Claudius in 43AD. All was not well with this
arrangement seemingly, for during the governorship of Aulus Didius
Gallus, sometime between 52AD and 57AD, he divorced her. Cartimandua's
treacherous treatment of Caratacus in 51AD could have been one possible
factor in his decision. Whatever the cause, Venutius proceeded to wage
war on his ex-spouse with his own rival Carvetian faction. The new
governor was forced to send several cohorts to her aid, until the forces
under the able command of Venutius were eventually defeated in a
decisive engagement. This story is related by Tacitus (Annals Book XII, chapter 40), although the Carvetii are not mentioned by name.